Brittany Maynard, Death With Dignity Advocate, Dies At 29

The Huffington Post ^ | 11/02/2014 | Alana Horowitz

[Bettyprob]

Brittany Maynard, the Oregon woman who had become an outspoken advocate for patients' rights following her terminal cancer diagnosis, died on Saturday, the Oregonian reported. She was 29.

"Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love," she wrote in a Facebook post, according to People. "Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness... the world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers... goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!"

Earlier this year, Maynard learned that she was suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma and had only six months to live. After hearing what the disease would to her body in its final stages, she decided that she wanted to die on her own terms.

[john mirse]

I hope she has found peace.

Myself, I'm going through some terrible physical and mental pain because of some terrible personal and financial problems that I can't fine any solution for.

I can't sleep. I can't eat. I find myself crying all the time.

I'm Christian. I find myself begging God over and over with tears in my eyes to please help me. But he does nothing.

Because doesn't seem to want to answer my cries for help, I think about suicide more and more with each passing day.

If I had a gun, I probably would have blown my brains out by now.

This is a terrible feeling thinking that the only way to have some peace is to commit suicide.

There seems to be nothing left for me to do but to commit suicide.

So I can only pray for that young woman that she finally finds peace.

I hope that God forgives me if I decide that the only way out is to take my own life.

Peace to all people who are thinking about suicide or who finally commit suicide.

[central_va]

Hang in there John and consider seeing a physician. Seek treatment if you can.

[Happy_Regicide]

John,

Keep praying and just keep going forward. Sometimes the answer to a terrible situation is there and we just don’t see it until we get through the other end.

Just keep praying, but also reach out to those around you for help. I am sorry for your suffering, but I know things will get better soon. maybe things won’t be fixed the way you want them to be, but they will be fixed by God better than they can be by you.

Love and prayers John.

[silverleaf]

“Suicide straight to hell as a catholic thing” is about as medieval a concept as the inquisition

Not that medieval-minded folks (even priests and ministers) don’t still exist to carry out their perceived mission of judging men on earth and bringing hell and guilt to the families of the dead

There is compassion and understanding of mental illness
Brittany was a soul who could not bear the torture of dying in helpless agony (stage 4 glioblastoma is an agonizing death and the only release is an eventual overdose of morphine that leads to come in an effort to stop the pain)

Judge her no more than judge the people who jumped from the WTC rather than burn to death. She chose to go to her maker in her time, not His. If this is condemnable to hell as arrogance or (self) murder then what type of God do we worship?

http://ronrolheiser.com/suicide-when-someone-is-too-bruised-to-be-touched/#.VFdzvyx0yUk

[TalBlack]

For extra credit, explain why the people who jumped out of the world trade center all went to hell. Did they owe it to God to accept being burned alive?

Easy. The point at which people jump from a burning building is the point of imminent incineration, when the super hot gasses or out right flames drive them. Stopwatch-wise they may be extending their consciousness by some seconds.

[silverleaf]

God’s presence on Earth and his work can be found among other Christians - trust that He will guide you to a church leader and group that will listen to you, and help. Please seek them out!

[Maceman]

I’ve argued against that and tried to research solutions and treatments for him.

I am so sorry that your friend is suffering. I and many others went through the same process when my girlfriend was deteriorating -- talking to her doctors, researching all kinds of reported cures, or potential nutritional solutions, or reports of new clinical developments.

It's what we do to cope when friends and loved ones are faced with the hopeless, crushing reality of such devastating medical conditions. It's human nature.

After a month in the hospital during which my 56-year-old girlfriend's fatal condition was first diagnosed and she had surgery and radiation which left her unable to walk, she moved in with me so that I could take full-time care of her.

She improved somewhat over the next couple of months, but the improvement was just in terms of the initial side effects from the surgery and radiation. So even though she got to the point of walking with a walker, she still suffered devastating side effects from the oral chemo (nausea, loss of appetite, neuropathy in her hands and feet) and the progression of the metastases as the cancer pursued its inevitably deadly course.

I used to lie spooning with her and rocking her for hours as she slept, with my face in her neck, holding her so tight and praying for her, trying to bargain with God that if I could just love her enough, she would recover.

But then five months after moving in with me, she had a crisis on Christmas Day which landed her in the hospital for a week, after which she was moved into hospice for her final four weeks. (I wanted her to stay in my place so that I could take care of her until the bitter end, but her physicians finally convinced me that her care needs were more than I could realistically provide. So I pretty much moved into her hospice room and slept there most nights during that time.)

In her last couple of weeks, she became delusional and lost the use of her arms and legs. She drifted in and out of consciousness and came to the point where she didn't know my name or her own. She was on constant morphine for the pain and finally lost her ability to speak.

She was an internationally acclaimed classical musician who played many of the world's most famous concert halls, and recorded over 30 CDs, several of which were chosen Best of the Year" by the New York Times. But towards the end she didn't even recognize her own performances on those CDs when I played them for her as she lay in what I knew would be her death bed.

She finally gave up the ghost early one morning just before I woke up in the bed next to her. But the doctors had never been able to predict when the end would come, and she might have hung on for a few months longer. All they could say was: "Her prognosis is somewhere between short and less short."

So now, when I read the incredibly ignorant, sanctimonious, un-compassionate, mean-spirited and judgmental responses here from some of my fellow Freepers about Brittany Maynard, it makes me just want to puke.

[TalBlack]

“Because she chose not to fight a divine plan that includes a cessation of her earthly existence?”

Listen to yourself. That “Divine Plan” plays for EVERYBODY.

[BornToBeAmerican]

May Father welcome her with open arms, as I know any loving father would.

While there is life there is hope; however, I applaud her courage and her love.

[kenmcg]

“And she will burn in HELL”

God is not filled with revenge. Don’t judge if you haven’t walked in their shoes.

[ladyrustic]

Thank you for sharing that, Maceman, so sorry for the death of your friend.

And I agree with you. People who would spit their venom and glee at the death of this young woman are repulsive.

[hope]

No, God did not choose death for her, she chose it, she chose to play God. If she knew Him she would not have done it nor would she had spoken the final words she spoke.

The sanctimonious on this thread are the name callers of those who choose to believe in the Word of God, not man.

[ScottinVA]

“Listen to yourself. That “Divine Plan” plays for EVERYBODY.”

Yeah.. that it does, but she was handed a specific death sentence. Tell me how engaging in aggressive, but ultimately unsuccessful treatment, which will only prolong the suffering, somehow glorifies God.

[ScottinVA]

No, God did not choose death for her, she chose it, she chose to play God.

Did you miss that "terminal" part of her diagnosis? Yes, God indeed chose death for her. She acted within that framework. And, if He is indeed a forgiving and merciful God... He'll forgive her.

As a kid, I watched my dad slip away for 2 1/2 years from cancer of the lymph glands. During that time he dropped from 220 lbs to about 85 (he was 6'3") and died in extreme pain and looking like a skeleton. During the visits home from the hospital, I saw his tears during the day and heard him crying from the pain at night. His only relief came when he took a sedative that caused him to hallucinate.

And you're going to tell me that somehow glorifies God more than exercising what small amount of control the patient has left?

[ronniesgal]

stay classy.
She is at peace now. I have seen my sis and a BIL die slowly from cancer. and had a poor tortured soul of a cousin who was “burning in his hell” everyday until he finally died ( mental illness)
I hope I stay healthy but if not..... that’s for me to deceide.

[Jim from C-Town]

As well we should you morally bankrupt jackass!

[Jim from C-Town]

We are all terminal. Life is a terminal disease.

[angcat]

Sad but I thought I read she postponed it until May. RIP.

[Bookwoman]

I watched a dear friend die a slow agonizing death from a brain tumor, another from multiple cancers, and my father die a slow agonizing death from a degenerative disease. All were emotionally strong people and stuck it out to the end, but all wondered why the Lord didn’t take them sooner - except the one who was certain that the Lord would heal her up until the last day. That one was the saddest of all.

After seeing what they went through, and after suffering years of debilitating pain myself, I could never judge another who made the decision she made. I can’t believe God would judge harshly someone with a brain tumor who couldn’t think properly or a person in so much agony they could not bear it any more. God is compassionate, and I pray that this woman found Him on her way out of this life.

[pepsi_junkie]

She should’ve just said she wanted to kill herself because she feared pain. That is far more accurate and truthful.

Given that it's an aggressive brain cancer, she probably more feared becoming something other than herself before it was over.